There was confusion at Du Merci Orphanage home located in Narayi community of Chikun Local Government Area ‎of Kaduna State when staff of National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in persons (NAPTIP) raided the home and took away orphans.

The NAPTIP personnel were said to have carried out the raid in company of policemen from the Kano State Police Command who arrived alongside the co-founder of the orphanage home. Mr. Solomon Tarfa.

Daily Trust gathered that the incident happened on Tuesday when the staff of the home were preparing for the New Year celebration.

‎Confirming the‎ incident to newsmen a sister to the co-founder, Mrs. Maria Phil Ariyo, said the orphans were taken to Kano State by the police. “Information reaching me revealed that the Children slept at a police station and were later moved to Nasarawa Orphanage in Kano.‎

“We are waiting for the police to state the reason for the arrest of the founders and why they took away the children,” she said‎‎.

She explained that the home is registered with the corporate Affairs Commission and had been in existence for over 30 years.‎ According to her, the headquarters of the Orphanage home is located in Kano and all the children at the home are either picked from the street or from the hospitals. When contacted, the Kaduna State Commissioner for Human and Social Development, Hafsat Baba, said the ministry was aware of the raid by Kano NAPTIP office.

“We are aware of the raid because the NAPTIP in Kano State wrote to our ministry to find out if our ministry was aware of their existence and based on investigation carried out by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, we discovered they have never registered with the state government.

“So, as far as we are concerned, they are operating illegally because they were not registered with the ministry and were not part of the association of orphanage homes recognised by the state government,” she said. (Daily Trust)

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